Mr Monk and the Odd Sock
by imyourlight
Summary: Something unbelievable happened... And it all began with one missing sock... Written in first person, Natalie's POV, Adrian/Natalie shipping


Note: Rated T, but maybe I´ll have to change the rating up to M in the future…

x

Chapter 1

I just woke up from my dream and the first thing coming on my mind is that I´m not in my own bed and I also can feel some weight on me. Opening my eyes, I look at the ceiling and immediately smile.

Sure, I´m in _his_ apartment, _his_ bedroom and _his_ bed…

Mr. Monk… no, Adrian, I´m still not used to calling him this way, lies curled next to me, his right arm is rested over my waist.

Turning my head in his direction, I look at him. He´s still deeply asleep, his left cheek rests against my shoulder. I love the peaceful expression on his face so much. He looks so beautiful and innocent like this, fee from all his fears and anxieties... I can feel his calm, steady breath on my skin…

My eyes drift over his face, atracted irresistibly to his lips. Lips that touched my skin so tenderly, so uncertainly... I desperately long to kiss him but that would wake him up which I don´t want to do… not yet…

So I remain lying still, carful not to make any incautious movement that would possibly disturb his sweet sleep... even though I feel my neck hurt and I also need to take a shower… But it doesn´t matter right now…

My thoughts are drifting back to the last night, the night I know I will remember for the rest of my life.

Something unbelievable happened…

If someone told me only several hours earlier I would make love with Adrian Monk, I´d probably ask him what he had been smoking. But it happened…

Right here, on this bed and I know our lives have been changed once forever.

My heart flutters somewhere in heaven´s heights… I´m blessed to gain love and trust of this incredible man for whom I would even die…

I can´t help but grin happily when think back on what we shared tonight… I can´t tell it was passionate… No, it wasn´t. It was slow and careful and full of diffidence… pretty much in Adrian´s style. But in some way it was the best thing I have experienced in many years.

And the way it happened just makes me want to shake my head in disbelief… It all began with one missing sock…

x

I arrived early at Adrian´s place yesterday. He had been working on one extremely difficult case (Leland´s words) and we had a lot of errands scheduled for that day. So I had expected he would already be waiting at the door, or pacing the floor impatiently and scolding me for being late which, that time, I wasn´t…

"Mr. Monk, hello… Mr. Monk?"

I couldn´t see him anywhere but I heard some sounds coming from his bedroom. I went through the hallway and stopped in front of the door. Adrian´s bedroom had always felt a little bit of taboo to me. Though he never told me anything like that, I considered it Adrian´s private, or rather sacred place, full of memories of Trudy (whatever they had been doing there), so I only rarely entered it. But the noise was too weird so I decided to break the unspoken rule and knocked the door:

"Mr. Monk, it´s me… May I in?"

He didn´t respond so I opened the door and peeked inside.

"Mr. Monk, what are you doing!"

It seemed he didn´t notice me at first but then turned his head towards me:

"I can´t find it, Natalie…"

Stepping into the bedroom, I got shocked. The room was mess and Adrian, still in his PJs, was frantically emptying the dresser´s drawers. Gosh, what had he been looking for? My heart sank. The day wasn´t starting well, I could tell Adrian was alreay emotionally distraught at the highest level…

"Can I help you, Mr. Monk? What did you lost?" I thought it was something vital like his wedding ring or one of Trudy´s pictures. The more surprised I got when he turned to me, holding a black sock in his hand:

"The sock," he whined, desperate, holding the hand out to me.

I didn´t understand:

"What´s with it? Is there a hole or something?"

"I can´t find the other one…"

I didn´t know what to say. Though I felt a wave of relief washing over me (thanks God it was just a sock), I knew I was going to face the most difficult part of my job, to help Adrian overcome his current obsession and make him somehow get ready for work.

"Well… Mr. Monk, why don´t you take another pair?"

"Pair… you´re right, socks come in pairs… I always keep them in pairs! Then why was there only one in the baggie?… It doeasn´t make any sense! Where did the other one go?"

"Mr. Monk, I don´t know but… but it happens all the time! People all around the world have these issues with socks. You put two in a washer and get only one out of there… Julie and I have a theory about that, you´ll like it. Maybe there´s a sock monster living somewhere in washing machines and eats socks. Have you ever read the book titled-"

"Natalie?"

Rising his eyebrow, he looked at me like I was nuts:

"What are you talking about? Monsters in washing machines? How old are you? Besides that, I thought you know I don´t wash my socks. They are undecontaminable!"

Then why don´t you just throw away this one too? Not a big deal, is it?… Or should I call the Captain he´s on his own today 'cause we have a missing sock here?"

Adrian hesitated.

"W- would- could you do that," he asked then, his dark eyes went wide when he looked at me with sudden hope… Sometimes he is such a child, but it is one of those countless things I do like about him…

"Of course not! Mr. Monk, we need to go now!" I grabbed another pack of socks and put it in his hand. I was relentless… well, it´s a part of my job.

"Here, put on these. They are exactly the same. Get dressed, Mr. Monk, I´m giving you ten minutes, then we´re leaving. If you´re not ready until then, you´ll spend today outside in your pajamas…"

"But- but… the sock…"

"Please, just try to forget about it for now… I promise we´ll look for it when come back. I´ll help you, right?"

Lifting his shoulder, he gave me a brief desperate glance, but started undoing the baggie to take the pair of socks out of there.

I found my heart melting for him, as always when he eventually does what I tell him… I just have to be the boss sometimes…

I couldn´t help chuckling: "Good boy…"

Then I left the room to provide him some privacy.

I was a little surprised… and pretty much impressed when, exactly ten minutes later, Adrian opened the door and walked out the room. Didn´t give me a single look.

"So, can we leave," Peering into the room over his shoulder, I asked, just to make sure all was okay.

He nodded, keeping his head down and shuffled reluctantly past me. I just had to admire him. Not only he had been able to suppress the obsession over the sock, but he had also just created his personal record of dressing speed and left the bedroom as it was, in it´s very untidy state. It surely had been an enormous step forward. I extended my hand and patted his tensed shoulder lightly:

"I´m proud of you, Mr. Monk… I really am."

He raised his eyes and smiled. Just a little but, for me, it was one of the two most beautiful things in the world… (just to make things clear, the other one is the smile of my daughter).

x

to be continued…


End file.
